BioCarpet

Abstract

With the advent of the Industrial Revolution, and the introduction of modern, mechanical inventions, agriculture in the 21st Century has brought enormous abundance to feed billions of people. Horticulture has brought hundreds of decorative plants to personalize our homes and businesses. However, there is a disturbing trend that continues to advance without resistance. Our cropland has been decimated by nutrient deficiencies, and new pests and weeks have risen from our tendency to overlook significant issues when they were still insignificant. The most important issue to date is our increased, and potentially lethal, use of chemicals on our crops. And let’s not forget about the overuse of antibiotics on livestock, pets, and people alike. Specifically, what if our gut biomes were not far removed from nature due to our overwhelming choice to inhabit cities? What if nature was an integral part of the urbanized world? With the exception of shower mats, plant life in the form of moss has never been used for the purpose of interior design with a functional use. This is how BioCarpet became a phenomenon, an idea to genetically engineer moss to populate an interior space for the purpose of bringing nature into our everyday lives.

Details

BioCarpet is a revolutionary concept where the consumer could potentially have live moss in the color and depth of their choice covering the floors of their residential and commercial spaces. A wide variety of colors can be created through genetic engineering, similar to how consumers have dozens of choices in what color to paint their walls. Although interior spaces will then be considered an environment where it is on par with the outdoors, management of BioCarpet should be minimal to keep the plants alive. However, the moss will need to be genetically engineered to control growth, minimize the need for watering, and for purposes of handling enormous stress loads and warmer temperatures. The intended achievements of “planting” BioCarpet are the following: purifying and pulling carbon dioxide from the air, to help individuals live a healthier lifestyle by reintroducing sufficient levels of bacterial life and the habitat for them, and to spruce an interior space that has the ability to grow.

How to create the conditions for BioCarpet to thrive in interior spaces? As of this writing, April 2017, no heavy-duty research has been conducted to understand how BioCarpet will be “planted” in a way the plants are stable, anchored, and have easy access to nutrients, sunshine, and water. Although an educated guess, BioCarpet could be placed inside a waterproof reservoir that is lightweight meant to minimize the load upon the building. Water could be fed directly from a filtration system that connects to the reservoir, or rather underneath the surface of the BioCarpet, to avoid watering items such as electronics, furniture, and personal, irreplaceable items. Not to go off topic, but furniture may also be made from biotic, alive materials to provide a nature-like feeling to an interior space.

The BioCarpet System will be approximately two to three inches deep, and the rough sketch does not reflect this to scale. The artificial aquifer may not necessarily be containing several gallons of nutrient rich water, but I suspect there should be enough clearance for water to flow freely. Unless desired to be concealed by the BioCarpet itself, the upper edges of the reservoir that follows the perimeter of the room will be visible.

Notice

I want everyone to realize that BIoCarpet is just an undeveloped, unproven concept meant to create discussion in how to bring nature indoors to substantially improve our health. As a result, I, Joel Hovell, do not possess any patents on this technology, nor do I wish to as everything I create or imagine is open-sourced. However, if any interested party or parties would like to develop this, just let me know as I wouldn’t mind hearing about your progress! Even if you developed a concept similar to BioCarpet without any awareness of my idea until after the fact, I would still like to know about your project! You can contact me in the following ways: